Sleepy time at DreamWorks

Hugh Hart

Published 4:00 am, Sunday, August 10, 2003

2003-08-10 04:00:00 PDT Los Angeles -- What's going on at DreamWorks? The company that brought us "American Beauty," "Saving Private Ryan," "Gladiator" and "Almost Famous" has endured a less than dreamy year at the box office.

"Old School" racked up a respectable $75 million, but "Biker Boyz" and "Head of State" fizzled. "Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas" has taken in only about $25 million. The fall release from Woody Allen, "Anything Else," will probably have a tough time at the box office, given the less than $5 million gross of his previous picture, "Hollywood Ending." "House of Sand and Fog" with Ben Kingsley also comes out in the fall.

Not counting partial interests in "Seabiscuit," "The Cat in the Hat" and "Paycheck," that adds up to only six films in 2003 wholly produced and distributed under the DreamWorks banner.

But studio spokesman Mike Vollman says it's unfair to compare DreamWorks SKG, co-owned by Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen, with the film divisions of giant corporations that churn out 20 or 30 films a year. "We don't have shareholders. We don't answer to Wall Street. We don't have to fill a pipeline, and so we don't green-light a movie until it's ready."

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That said, Vollman acknowledges that "some years are slower than others, and this year has been kind of slow." On the other hand, 2004 promises a more robust lineup, starting with four comedies shepherded by Mike De Luca, the studio's co-head of production, hired in 2001 to spearhead projects apart from films executive-produced by Spielberg and Katzenberg.

De Luca formerly ran New Line Cinema, where he championed "Austin Powers," "Rush Hour" and "Boogie Nights." He has yet to find that level of success at DreamWorks and will be looking to the winter-spring releases starring Kate Bosworth ("Win a Date With Ted Hamilton"), Jack Black and Ben Stiller ("Envy") and Will Farrell ("Anchor Man"), plus an untitled teen slapstick film from the producers of "Road Trip," to prove he's still got his finger on the pop culture pulse.

But it's not until next summer that DreamWorks' heavy hitters come to bat. "Shrek 2" opens May 21, followed by "Terminal," which teams Steven Spielberg with Tom Hanks in a fact-based story about a man who lived in a Paris airport for 10 years. That will be followed by Michael Mann's "Collateral," which stars Tom Cruise as a hit man.

After Labor Day comes the computer-animated "SharkSlayer," currently being made at DreamWorks animation studio.

"It's a cyclical business," Vollman says. "Because our founders are so high profile, we get compared to the Viacoms of the world, but we're actually a totally different animal."

Oscar dilemma: "Seabiscuit's" Oscar buzz notwithstanding, it might seem a little early to start fretting about Academy Award marketing campaigns. But studios are already worried about a dilemma they'll face in a few months. "For Your Consideration" DVDs have become de rigueur as filmmakers mail discs of their films to academy voters in December. The problem: The promotional discs are finding their way into the wrong hands and being ripped off for black market consumption months before the films are scheduled for commercial home entertainment distribution.

Ken Jacobsen, senior vice president and director of worldwide anti-piracy operations for the Motion Picture Association of America, says, "I can't think of one major movie that was put out in DVD (academy) screener format last year that did not end up being the source of pirated discs and the source of illegal copies on the Internet. We ran a survey and found more than 30 movies where the source of the illegal material had been an academy screener. That obviously puts us in a real quandary."

Ric Robertson, executive administrator for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, says, "Members have come to enjoy and expect this higher level of quality, so the bar has been raised. I know a number of studio people are agonizing over this, going, 'OK, we don't want to send out DVDs because of the risk of piracy, but (if we don't) we are going to end up alienating people because they're expecting a DVD.' It's a tough situation."

Time well spent: James Brooks takes his time between pictures, but when he finally gets around to making one, it usually turns out pretty well. He wrote and directed the Oscar-winning "Terms of Endearment" and also directed "Broadcast News" and "As Good as It Gets." His new project, "Spanglish," takes a look at Latina immigrants in Los Angeles. In an effort to cast his net outside the Hollywood talent pool, he has set up a Web site, www.spanglishmovie.com, where candidates can apply. He's looking for bilingual actresses to play a mother (age 26-34) and her two daughters (ages 6 and 12).